It Happens In A Blink
by msj12991
Summary: It can all change in the blink of an eye. You can get shot and killed, you can commit a crime, and you can fall in love. Sean King & Michelle Maxwell are just about to learn just how dangerous taking on P.I. investigations can be. And maybe along the way, they'll learn a bit more about each other as well.
1. Chapter 1

Ch.1

Michelle Maxwell paced back and forth in the dimly lit living room of the studio apartment. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her blue eyes kept on turning towards the window. The jacket she had on over her purple Oxford shirt was making her hot but she didn't really want to take it off. Michelle sighed as she looked around the apartment once more. It wasn't her own and she really wasn't supposed to be there tonight. But when she had tried to call him (several times), he didn't answer the phone. So, Michelle became worried and decided to drive over and check on him, only to find out that he wasn't home.

Michelle peeked out the window for what seemed like the millionth time and sighed heavily. His car still hadn't pulled up in the parking lot. She pushed away from the window and continued to pace back and forth on the carpeted floor as she bit on her nails; something she hadn't done since she was a little girl.

Bright lights illuminated the living room from the window and Michelle rushed back to it and saw the familiar blue car pull into the parking lot next to hers. She noticed that, as he got out of his car, he looked at her car and shook his head with a slight smile on his face.

No sooner he opened up the front door to the apartment did Michelle jump into his arms, making him wince in pain, but he did his best to disguise it. "Well hello there, I've missed you too." He joked as he hugged Michelle back.

Michelle quickly pulled away from him and smacked his left arm. "What, you don't know how to answer your phone anymore, Sean?" Michelle scolded as she placed her hands on her hips.

Sean King sighed heavily and brushed his short brown hair back, his brown eyes staring into Michelle's blue ones. "What are you talking about?" Sean asked as he carefully took his jacket off and placed it on his coat hanger. "Michelle, I didn't receive any phone calls."

"Well, I called you." Michelle replied as she pulled out her iPhone and showed him her recent calls list. "In fact, I called you six times."

Sean raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "Jesus, you're not trying to become one of those creepy stalker girls are you? Because you know I'm not really into that kind of thing."

Michelle scowled at him. "This isn't funny Sean. You had me worried sick! You promised me that you would keep in touch after what happened last week." Michelle reminded him as she looked at his right shoulder. It was a constant reminder of what happened exactly one week ago. As she looked at his shoulder, it seemed as if she could see right through Sean's blue button down shirt and see the wound.

Last week at the end of one of their investigations, they were double crossed by their client. The man, who gave them the false name of Donald Egglesfield, was in his late eighties and had a limp. So, of course, the duo didn't really think too much of it when he found them in a garage parking lot outside of town. That was until "Donald" said something about "tying up loose ends." He took the first shot at Michelle, but she quickly dodged it and ran towards Sean. Unfortunately, she hadn't made it to him in time. The bullet hit him right in his shoulder. The old man got away free too, since they didn't know his real name and there wasn't any security footage of them inside the garage. They only thing they were able to give the police was a description of the man and the fake name he gave them.

Michelle drew in a deep breath as she forced herself to look away from Sean's gunshot wound and look him straight in his brown eyes.

Sean sighed heavily and sat down on his old, beat up couch. "I know that. I'm sorry Michelle. I was just meeting up with a prospective client." Sean explained as he kicked his shoes off.

Michelle bit the inside of her jaw and clasped her hands together as she looked at Sean. "A prospective client? At this hour? And I thought you and I agreed that we would _both_ meet with any clients?"

"Well, I thought that you would be in bed by now, but apparently I was wrong about that." Sean replied as he looked up at Michelle and into her blue eyes. "As far as the late hour thing goes, the woman was the one who suggested we meet now." Sean explained as he crossed one leg over the other.

Michelle rolled her eyes. "So it's a female client? Yay. What does she want us to do? Track down her cheating husband or boyfriend?" Michelle said with a scowl.

Sean tried his best to hide a smile. If he wasn't mistaken, Michelle almost sounded jealous that he had met with a woman at this hour. But instead of teasing her about it like he normally would, he replied, "No actually. Her younger brother recently passed and she has reason to believe that he was murdered. She wanted to know if we could look into it further for her.

Michelle's face fell as she began to feel sympathy for the woman. But she quickly regained her composure. "Why not go to the police with her suspicions?" Michelle asked her partner as she sat next to him on his couch.

"She did. They said that the case was closed. Didn't even do an autopsy. Lady said that the police said the death was clear to them. Suicide; case open, case closed. They refused to reopen it just because his older sister had suspicions."

Michelle shook her head. "Yeah, that's law enforcement for ya." She shook her head once more before a question came to her mind. "So, what's our clients' name?" She asked as she looked at Sean.

Sean nervously licked his lips as he looked at the ground. There was another reason he didn't want to tell Michelle about their "prospective client." He was just going to tell the woman no, that he couldn't help her, but he couldn't find the heart to. He felt Michelle's gaze on him & he knew that she wasn't a very patient person. "Well umm… Don't get mad okay? Because she's just a prospective client."

Michelle squared her eyes at Sean. She didn't understand why Sean thought she would get upset. "I won't get mad." She stated as she shook her head.

"Well... uh…. Her name is Cynthia Mills." Sean replied as he continued to look at the carpeted floor.

Michelle's facial expression turned from sympathetic to anger in an instant. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Michelle-"

"You're wanting to take _her _on as a client?!" Michelle sneered as she stood up from the couch.

"Michelle, it isn't official yet." Sean tried but he knew he wasn't getting through to her.

"Cynthia fucking Mills? The bitch that _ruined_ my parents' marriage?!" Michelle yelled as she started to pace.

"Shh! Michelle please! I have neighbors and I'm sure they're all asleep now." Sean pleaded with her as he stood up from the couch as well.

"I don't give a damn!" Michelle scolded.

"Well I do, Michelle. Please. I don't want to get evicted. Just please calm down, Michelle. I know that you're upset." Sean tried again as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "She's just a prospective client. I didn't tell her that we would for sure help her. I told her that I would talk to you first."

Michelle let out a huff and turned towards Sean. "You know that I hate her, Sean."

"I know, I know. I just thought that… well maybe… you could just sit those feelings aside for a while and help her find out the truth about her dead brother." Sean tried but Michelle shook her head.

"Maybe she killed him herself." Michelle snapped.

"Come on, Michelle. Okay, you didn't see her. She was really distraught."

"Yeah, or she was just a really great actress!" Michelle said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, okay. We don't have to do it. I just wanted to run the idea past you. I thought that… well… maybe since you have four brothers of your own, you'd see it from her point of view." Sean replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Michelle glared at him. "That's a low blow, Sean. That's not fair either. _She_ was the one that broke up my family Sean!"

Sean raised his hands in defense and walked towards his bedroom. "Okay. Sorry. We don't have to help her. It's no big deal."

Michelle sighed heavily and threw her head back as she heard Sean's bedroom door close. That man really knew how to get to her, and she really hated it. Drawing in a deep breath, Michelle walked back towards Sean's room and stood in front of his door. She heard the television on, so she knew he wasn't lying down to go to sleep yet. Michelle slowly brought her hand up and knocked lightly on his door.

"It's open, Michelle." Sean replied from the inside.

Michelle placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it, revealing Sean's bedroom. It wasn't really big, but it was enough to fit his king-sized bed, a dresser with a 27' television on it, a desk in the corner with a load of papers on it, and then a cherry oak nightstand next to his bed. It was nothing how she thought his room would look like. She thought for sure that it would be all messy and everything. But it wasn't; in fact, it looked a lot cleaner than her bedroom.

Michelle noticed that one thing was missing though. "Sean?" She called out as she looked around the room.

"I'm in the bathroom. Just freshening up for the night." Sean replied.

Michelle smiled as she stood at the foot of his bed. She tried not to look towards the bathroom just in case Sean wasn't decent. "You know, your room is really clean."

"Ha. You sound surprised."

"I am actually. I mean, our office looks like a tornado came through and it's mostly due to all of your junk you have in there." Michelle replied as she ran a finger over his dresser, noting that there wasn't a single amount of dust on it.

"Hey! All of that _junk_ isn't mine!" Sean defended. He walked out of the bathroom and ran his fingers through his short dark hair. He leaned against the wall as he looked at Michelle. "Are you gonna stay the night over here? It is rather late." Sean asked, hoping she'd say yes. He didn't really like the thought of Michelle driving all the way to her place at this hour.

Michelle looked back at Sean and gave him a small smile. "I was going to ask you if it was okay that I stayed."

Sean smiled back at her and pushed away from the wall. "Of course it's okay, Michelle. You let me stay at your place last night and then two nights before that." Sean replied. He unbuttoned his shirt and carefully took it off, revealing his white tank top underneath. He threw his shirt in the hamper in the bathroom before crossing over to his bed. Sean sat down on his side of the bed then patted the spot next to him for Michelle to sit down.

Michelle curled her fingers nervously. Sure, she'd slept in the same bed with him, but it was at her house, in her bed. She'd never stayed over at Sean's house before. Feeling Sean's gaze on her, Michelle slipped out of her shoes and then withdrew her jacket, draping it over the chair by the desk. Since she didn't intend on staying with Sean at first, she hadn't brought over a change of clothes.

Sean, as if reading her mind, said, "You know, I have a pair of short and an extra shirt if you'd feel more comfortable in that."

Michelle smiled. "If it's not too much of a hassle."

Sean shook his head as he stood up. "Not at all." He replied with a smile. He walked over to his dresser and withdrew a pair of blue shorts and a white tee-shirt. "Here ya go, Michelle. Now you may need to tighten the strings on those shorts so they don't fall off of you." Sean advised.

Michelle quietly gave her thanks then walked into the bathroom. She quickly changed into Sean's clothes. She couldn't help but lift the collar of the shirt to her nose. It smelt just like Sean. She had to smile at that little fact. Michelle then walked back into the bedroom and noticed that Sean was already settled in bed. She also couldn't help but to notice the bandage on his right shoulder. She still felt extremely guilty about the incident. She knew that she could've got to Sean faster; she could have knocked him out-of-the-way of the bullet so he wouldn't have gotten shot. If she would've just run a bit faster, she could've saved him.

Sean noticed her staring at his shoulder and he immediately knew what she was thinking. "You know, it wasn't your fault Michelle."

Michelle's eyes met Sean's and she let out a heavily sigh. "I could've saved you Sean."

"Hey. You did save me. Remember? My doctor said that if you wouldn't have been there to put pressure on the wound, I would've died from blood loss. You did save me, Michelle." Sean reminded her. "Now…. Come here, and lay down with me… Please."

Michelle couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. She walked over to the other side of the bed and lay right next to Sean. Within minutes, she was out like a light.

**A/N: So this is my first King and Maxwell story, but it isn't my first story. Let me know what you all think! =)**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2

Sean woke up from his sleep not even two hours after he fell asleep. He rested his hand on Michelle's back and began to trace lines up and down her spine. Somehow at some point in her sleep, she had managed to climb on top of him. Her head was resting on the left side of his chest and her legs were tangled in his. She always ended up like that somehow. Sean couldn't complain though; in fact, he liked it. He didn't know when, but somewhere down the road of their friendship, he'd grown feelings for Michelle, though he would never tell her that for fear that she would kill him.

Sean looked down at Michelle and noticed that her long, wavy, blonde hair had fallen into her face. Sean smiled lightly and brushed her hair back so he could see her face. She always looked so peaceful in her sleep. And God was the woman beautiful. Sean had never seen a woman who had as much beauty and radiance as Michelle. Most women that Sean had known and dated threw themselves at him. And they weren't anywhere near as smart as Michelle. That's what he loved about her; she was smart, and she was aware of her beauty but she didn't flaunt it; and she wasn't overly confident.

Sean continued to trace lines on her back until she started to stir in her sleep. Only then did he withdraw his hand and place it casually behind his head. He quickly closed his eyes as Michelle's head began to rise.

Michelle's eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked at the clock that sat atop the nightstand. It read 3:48 am. Michelle groaned tiredly and laid her head back down on Sean's chest. Once she noticed that his breathing was uneven, she opened her eyes again. "You can't sleep either huh?"

Sean's eyes popped open and he stared down at Michelle. "How'd you know that I was awake?"

"Your breathing is uneven." Michelle answered nonchalantly. "So, why can't you sleep?" Michelle asked as she lifted her head to look at Sean.

Sean sighed and motioned towards his shoulder. "My damn shoulder is aching.

Michelle's hand instantly went to the bandage on Sean's shoulder. She took it off and gasped. "Oh my God, Sean! Have you been taking your meds?"

"Well…. I…. No. No I have not." Sean replied.

"Damn it Sean!" Michelle pushed herself up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom and began rummaging through Sean's medicine cabinet.

"What's the big deal? Doc didn't say I had to take the painkillers. Only as needed. And you know that I do not like the way those things make me feel." Sean said with a shake of his head.

"I'm not worried about the painkillers Sean! I'm worried about the fact you haven't been taking your antibiotics! Your wound is infected!" Michelle scolded from the bathroom.

Sean nodded his head in realization. "Oh…. Yeah. I forgot to take those." Sean said as Michelle came out of the bathroom with two white pills in her hand and a cup of water in the other.

"Here, take these." Michelle instructed as she placed the two pills in Sean's hand and put the glass on the nightstand.

"Will these make me loopy?" Sean asked before popping them into his mouth and downing them without the aid of water.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be concerned with rather or not they would make me loopy. I'd rather be concerned with losing that shoulder due to an infection." Michelle said as she walked back into the bathroom.

"Uh, what are you getting now?" Sean asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Peroxide, triple antibiotic ointment, gauze, and medical tape." Michelle replied. Moments later, she returned to the bedroom with her supplies.

Sean eerily gazed at the supplies Michelle laid out. "Okay, and what do you plan on doing with the – Ah!" Sean shrieked as Michelle poured peroxide on his wound. "Jesus Christ Michelle! A little warning next time, please." He said with clenched teeth.

"Sorry. It's easier when you don't know it's coming." Michelle replied.

"Yeah, so you say." Sean shook his head and looked into Michelle's blue eyes. "I just think you like seeing me in pain."

This caused Michelle to smirk. "Only a little."

Sean shook his head once more as Michelle dabbed his wound dry with a towel. She then started to apply the triple antibiotic ointment to his infected wound. "How bad is it Michelle?" He asked in a serious tone.

Michelle's smirk faded as she looked into Sean's brown eyes. "It's pretty bad Sean. But let's just see if we can get it to look any better here before we try to take you to the hospital. I know how much you hate them." Michelle said as she went back to cleaning his wound.

Sean nodded his head in response. He was thankful that Michelle didn't insist on him going to the hospital. Normally, she'd badger him about it until he gave in. And if he didn't give in, she'd get mad and storm off. "Thanks for your help Michelle. I really do appreciate it."

Michelle smiled lightly. "You're very welcome… cowboy."

Sean smirked and shook his head. "You just love calling me that, don't you?"

"Haha, yes I really do." Michelle replied. She taped up Sean's wound and then patted his arm. "There ya go. All done."

Sean smiled his thanks and then opened his arms. Michelle instantly fell into them and they both laid back on the bed.

Michelle once against laid her head on Sean's chest. "Is this okay?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine. It doesn't bother me any." Sean answered honestly.

Michelle smiled and closed her eyes as she listened to the steady beat of Sean's heart.

"Hey Michelle?" Sean called out. Michelle hummed in response. "Are we going to take the case with Cynthia?" He felt Michelle tense against him and he immediately regretted asking her.

Just when he was about to say never mind she replied, "Sure. I know that if I had suspicions about a death of someone I knew and loved, I'd want the truth too."

Sean smiled in response and rubbed her arm. "Okay good. Because I told her that I'd meet up with her at 11am to let her know our decision." Michelle lifted her head and glared at him. "What?" He asked innocently.

"We agreed that we'd both meet with our clients." Michelle replied.

"Well, I didn't think that you wanted to see her." Sean said.

"I don't, but I also do not want anything to happen to you again." Michelle replied softly as she looked towards the ground.

Sean's facial features softened as he looked at her. "Michelle-"

"Sean, I know what you're about to say and I don't care. Yes, I hate that woman, but I'd rather be there with you then have to stay here, worried sick about you." Michelle stated.

Sean squared his eyes at her. "I'm a big boy Michelle. I think I can handle myself."

"I'm not saying you can't I just…. Sean please…. Just let me go with you. Let me have your back." Michelle pleaded with him as she looked into his brown eyes.

Sighing heavily, Sean nodded his head. "Only if you promise to be nice."

"I will. I promise. I won't even look at her." Michelle promised.

Sean nodded his head once again. "Alright. Now that's settled, let's try to get back to sleep."

Michelle smiled then laid her head back against Sean's chest. Once again, within minutes, she was sleeping soundly.

**A/N: So this was chapter two! I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks for all the reviews and everything! Much love guys! Please continue reviewing! Let me know how I did!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch.3

At nine thirty that morning, Sean stood at his kitchen counter and flipped the pancakes that he was making on the griddle. Michelle sat at the oak table, groggily rubbing her eyes. She still had yet to touch the coffee that sat in front of her.

Sean took the six pancakes off the griddle and put three on each plate. He then added two microwaveable maple-link sausages. Sean placed the two plates on the table along with the butter and syrup. He then handed Michelle a fork and she smiled her thanks.

"You know, I wasn't aware that you could cook." Michelle said as she bit into her pancake. It tasted delicious. She could swear that she could taste a hint of vanilla.

Sean just shrugged his shoulders. "It's one of my talents." He replied as he took a sip of his fresh brewed coffee.

Michelle took another bite of her pancake and looked at Sean. "So, is there any particular reason that you woke me up at nine?" Michelle asked before taking a drink of her own coffee.

"Well, first off, I wanted to make us a nice breakfast. And secondly, I know that you like to take a shower in the morning." Sean replied. He looked over at Michelle and noted that she had an amused expression on her face. "What?"

"How would you know that I like to take morning showers?" Michelle asked as she eyed Sean.

Sean scoffed playfully. "Well, I am a pretty observant guy, ya know. Plus, you take a shower at the lake house no sooner you get there."

Michelle raised an amused eyebrow. "That would be because I'm all sweaty from rowing my boat all the way over there, genius." Michelle quipped playfully.

Sean just shook his head at her. "I also wanted to take time out to gather as much information as we can about Cynthia's brother before we meet up with her. You know that I prefer to be a couple of steps ahead in these cases."

Michelle nodded her head in understanding. "Oh yeah, I do know." Michelle said as she stood up from the table and stretched. She then looked at Sean. "Thank you for breakfast, Sean. It was really great. I'm gonna go grab a shower though." Michelle said as she turned away, so she failed to notice the smirk that grew across Sean's face.

"Alrighty." Sean replied as he picked up the morning newspaper. He barely skimmed over the headlines before he placed it back on the table in its original spot. Hearing the shower turn on, Sean stood up and walked into his bedroom to get changed. He decided that he would wear a simple blue tee-shirt along with a pair of black jeans and his black jacket. He preferred to look casual, whereas Michelle preferred to look professional.

Once Sean got dressed, he walked back out to the kitchen and began to clear the table. He placed the dishes in his dishwasher when he remembered something. "Uh, hey Michelle?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, you don't have any other clothes here besides what you wore last night. And I don't think that you want to wear those again." Sean informed her as a smile spread across his face. He heard the shower shut off and heard Michelle mutter something unintelligible. He couldn't help but to laugh to himself.

Moments later, Michelle emerged from the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. Her hair was dripping wet and her skin glistened with water. It took everything in Sean not to gawk at her like any other male would do. He opted out to be a respectable gentleman instead. He decided that would be best unless he wanted to get punched by Michelle.

"I'm sorry, Sean. I completely forgot all about that." Michelle apologized as she shifted her weight to her left leg as she leaned against the door frame. "Do you mind going over to my place and getting me something to wear?" Michelle asked as she wrapped the towel tighter around herself. She felt very self-conscious at that moment and she wasn't sure why. She'd been half-naked in front of guys on more than a few occasions. But standing here in Sean's home in front of Sean made her feel different somehow. She did notice that Sean didn't seem to be looking at her any differently though.

Sean just smiled at her. "Actually, I phoned Edgar earlier. He had Benny drive over an outfit for you to wear. Apparently, you leave your clothes at the office." Sean smiled.

Michelle shook her head at him but smiled anyways. "Thank you, Sean. You're amazing. Where's the outfit at?" Michelle asked as she looked around.

"Oh, Benny hasn't gotten here yet. She should be just about-'' Sean was cut off by a knock on the door. He then smirked at Michelle who was standing in the middle of the room, her eyes as wide as could be.

"Damn it Sean!" She cursed as she rushed back into the bathroom and closed the door.

Sean just laughed and went to answer the front door. He opened it up to see a very tired looking Benny. Her brown hair was a mess and she had dark circles under her eyes. "Jeez, late night?"

"Don't even start. Here are Michelle's clothes." Benny said as she handed Sean Michelle's outfit.

"Whoa, a little fiery this morning, huh?" Sean teased her as he looked over the outfit they had sent over for Michelle. It was a baby blue Oxford shirt along with a pair of black slacks and a jacket.

"Edgar and I watched and rewatched that damn Ritter assassination video. I swear, I think that I've memorized every single detail." Benny said as she rubbed her head with the back of her hand.

Sean raised a brow. "Why were you two watching that video?"

"Edgar thinks that there's something important he's missing. So, he keeps going over it to analyze it. I'm sure that if anyone can find anything, it'd be Edgar." Benny replied with a smile. She had taken a liking to Edgar, though she didn't want to admit it. Benny shook her hair back from her face and looked around Sean's apartment. "So, enough about me. What did you and Miss Michelle get into last night?" Benny asked in a teasing way.

"Michelle and I didn't get into anything last night. She came by to check up on me and then she stayed over because it was too late for her to drive home." Sean explained.

Benny smirked. "Did you offer her to stay or did she ask?"

"What's it matter?" Sean asked as she furrowed his eyebrows.

"Oh, it matters a lot. If you offered her to stay, you really wanted her to stay. But if she asked, then she really didn't think it'd be safe for her to drive home that late." Benny replied with the smirk still on her face.

Sean rolled his eyes and leaned against the door frame. "I don't believe that information is relevant, Miss Benny."

Benny just laughed. He just gave her the answer she was looking for without knowing it. "So uh, you two slept in your bed together?" Benny asked, again in a teasing tone.

"Yes Benny. Michelle and I slept in the same bed together. But _nothing_ happened between us. Period." Sean stated matter-of-factly.

"Alright, alright." Benny said as she held her hands up defensively with a smirk still on her face. "So y'all didn't do the deed?" Benny asked as she made a grinding motion.

Sean laughed and shook his head. "Oh my God. No we didn't Benny. And even if we did, I would never tell you." Sean replied with a shake of his head.

"That's okay. You'd tell Edgar though, and then he'd tell me." Benny said with a smile.

"Well, now that you bring that up, I don't think I'd tell anyone. Not even Edgar." Sean stated with a smirk.

"Haha, alright then. Well, I'm gonna head back. See ya later, Sean. Have fun with your partner!" Benny said with a wave of her hand as she walked back to her car.

Sean shook his head again at her then closed the front door. He then went back to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Here's your outfit, little Mick." Sean said with a smirk, knowing that Michelle was going to hit him for calling her by her childhood nickname.

"Sean." Michelle sneered from the bathroom and as opened up the door and grabbed her clothes from his hand. She quickly changed into her outfit then combed her fingers through her damp hair. "I swear I'm going to kill JT for telling you my nickname. I hated it as a kid and I hate it now. And if you call me that again, I'm going to throttle you."

"Oh, but I may like it, little Mick." Sean teased. He loved messing with Michelle.

Michelle walked out of the bathroom, fully clothed, and punched Sean's arm. "You asshole."

Sean just laughed and grabbed his car keys before walking out the front door behind Michelle. "Hey, do you want to ride with me in my car? It takes a lot less gas than your SUV." Sean offered.

Michelle shrugged her shoulder. "Yeah, I guess that's cool. Just don't call me that name again or else I'll kick your ass." Michelle threatened as she climbed into the passenger seat of Sean's car.

Sean was going to laugh but once he saw the look on Michelle's face, he knew she wasn't kidding. Sean shook his head then took his place in the driver's seat and started the car. He then put the car in reverse then sped off to their destination.

~ * * * * * At the Restaurant * * * * * ~

Sean and Michelle sat side by side in their usual booth as Sean ordered them both a cup of coffee. Once the strawberry blonde waitress walked away, Sean turned his attention to the files Edgar emailed him. "Okay, so Cynthia's brother's name was Austin. He was found Tuesday, April 13th of this year in his living room in his home in Charleston. He had one gunshot wound to his temple. There was blood on his hand, which the M.E. deduced was his own, and the gun was in his left hand. But, and here's the weird part, Austin was right-handed. And Cynthia told me that he had nerve damage in his left arm. It was basically immobile. But when she told the police that, they just let it be." Sean told Michelle as he gave her the files to look over them.

"Well they sure do shitty work, huh?" Michelle said as she read through the files. "They couldn't find any reason to think it was a murder?" Michelle asked as she looked at Sean.

"Nope. Nothing at all. There wasn't any other evidence that proved anyone else was in there with him. No hairs, no blood, no footprints or fingerprints. Nothing. It's like our guy's a ghost." Sean replied softly as the waiter returned with two cups of coffee. The waitress offered them both a bagel and bacon but they both politely declined. The waitress smiled at Sean then walked off.

Michelle shook her head. "I think our waitress has a crush on you, Sean."

Sean just shook his head. "Good, then maybe we'll get a discount on our coffees." Sean joked before taking a drink of his coffee.

"So, Cynthia has other reasons to believe that her brother was murdered? Like what?" Michelle asked as she stared at Sean.

Sean licked the hot liquid off of his lips before replying. "She didn't say. She said she'd tell us more about it if we took her on as a client."

Michelle nodded her head as she felt her stomach twist in knots at the sight of her. Cynthia Mills had just walked into the small restaurant and was searching for Sean. "I think our guest of honor has arrived." Michelle murmured as she took a drink of her coffee.

Sean looked at Michelle then looked up towards the entrance to see Cynthia. Sean stood up from his seat and waved her over. Cynthia smiled then walked over to their table.

"Thank you both for meeting with me. I just didn't know who else to turn to." Cynthia said as she took her seat across from Michelle and Sean. Her eyes fell on Michelle and she instantly felt sympathetic. "Michelle-''

"Don't worry about it, Cynthia. Let's just get down to business." Michelle said a little too harshly as she straightened up in her seat.

Cynthia nodded her head then began to tell them what the already knew; how Austin was found, where he was killed and that there wasn't any evidence of foul play. "But, the reason why I suspected there was more to it was because Austin had received threatening emails. Not only that but he also received a photo of him in the mail one day."

"What kind of picture?" Michelle asked as her brow furrowed.

Cynthia pulled a copy of the picture out of her purse and slid it across the table. "He copied it and sent me an email of it, along with his emails that he received."

Michelle looked at the photo then passed it on to Sean, who looked at it with a scrutinizing gaze. He was a lot more analytical than Michelle was. To Michelle, it just looked like a regular picture. But Sean probably saw a lot more to it than that.

Sean drew in a deep breath and rubbed his chin. "Wow. That's kind of scary." Sean replied.

Michelle sighed heavily. "Okay, I'm not very good at analyzing things. Could you explain what you see?" Michelle asked as she looked at Sean.

Sean looked back at Michelle and let out a breath. "Well… This photo was taken inside his home, while he was asleep. It proves that the perp had access to his home and could get close enough to him without him being aware of it." Sean explained to Michelle before looking at Cynthia. "Can I see the copies of those emails?" Sean asked her.

Cynthia nodded her head before pulling the copies out of her purse and slid them across the table as well. "It's a fake email address. I had a friend of mine analyze it and try to see if he could track the person who sent it. He informed me that the email address was fake and that he couldn't trace the IP address without the original email. Problem is I have no idea what Austin's password is. And I've tried to click the "forgot password" link, but his security questions are even hard for me. They're totally random. I think he made them up his self." Cynthia said with a light laugh.

Sean read over the emails. At first, they didn't seem to be threatening. But if you read more into it, there were definitely some hidden threats in there. Sean brushed his hair back with his fingers and sighed. "And you showed these and the picture to the police?" Sean asked Cynthia.

"Yes. And they told me there was nothing they could do. They said there wasn't any real threat so they saw no need to investigate." Cynthia answered with a shake of her head.

"Well, why didn't Austin go to the police about them?" Michelle asked.

"He said he wasn't worried about some empty threats. It was the picture that really set him off though. He told me that he planned to go to the police the day he was found dead. The picture was taken of him the night before." Cynthia replied as tears filled her eyes.

"And what time was Austin found?" Sean asked as he looked back at the photo.

"He was found at 4:30 pm." Cynthia answered with a nod.

"Alright, and who found him?" Sean asked again with his eyes still on the picture.

"Oh, I did. I drove over when I couldn't reach him on the phone."

Both Sean and Michelle looked at her when she said that. "Wait, you found him?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Cynthia wondered.

"Just…. It's just a question." Michelle replied nonchalantly. "And umm... What time did the M.E. declare as time of death?"

"Between two and three pm." Cynthia answered as if on cue.

"And you were at work until 4?" Sean asked as he made note of the T.O.D and the time Cynthia said she found him.

"Well, they let me go home early that day. I wasn't feeling very well. Womanly issues." Cynthia said, slightly embarrassed as she held her stomach.

Michelle knew what she was referring to but Sean was lost. "Time of the month, Sean." Michelle whispered. Sean just looked away, slightly disgusted but shook his head.

"Okay and ummm…. Did you tell me yesterday that you were with a friend around 2 pm that day?" Sean asked. Cynthia hadn't said anything about being with a friend; he just wanted to know if she had an alibi for the time her brother was murdered.

Cynthia furrowed her brow. "No, I don't think so. I was just at home at two. I was watching my cat, Rufus." Cynthia replied with a curt nod.

Sean nodded his head as well and made note of this. "Was anyone with you at your place? Besides Rufus of course."

"Nope, it was just me." Cynthia answered.

Sean and Michelle shared a look before Sean closed his notebook. "Alright Cynthia, I think we have enough information to go on now. Um, do you care if we keep the copies of the picture and the emails?"

"No not at all. I still have them saved on my computer at home." Cynthia replied.

"Okay thanks. We will be in contact if we find anything." Sean said with a polite smile.

"Oh thank you so much, Sean and Michelle! I greatly appreciate it!" Cynthia said with a bright smile as she stood up from her seat. "And Michelle." Cynthia started. She continued when Michelle looked up at her. "I really am sorry about what happened all those years ago. But, do give your father my condolences? And if he ever needs anyone, let him know I'm here." Cynthia said before turning on her heel to leave.

It took everything in Michelle not to jump out of her seat and choke the life out of the woman. Sean held her back before she could do anything. "Whoa, hey. It's okay." Sean said as he tried to calm his partner down.

"It's okay?! Are you fucking kidding me Sean?!" Michelle scolded before she stood up from her seat and stormed out the front door.

Sean sighed heavily and stood up as well before placing the money on the table for their bill. He followed Michelle out of the restaurant and found her pacing in front of his car. "Michelle-''

"I don't want to hear it Sean. Just take me home." Michelle sneered as she climbed into his car.

Sean took in a deep breath and walked to the passenger window. "I can't take you home, Michelle. Your car is at my place."

"Then take me to your house so I can drive my damn self home!" Michelle yelled before placing her head in her hands, feeling a headache coming on.

Sean's arms fell to his side and he climbed into his seat before starting the car and pulling off.

Once they got to Sean's apartment, Michelle jumped out of the car and walked over to her car before remembering that her keys and clothes were in Sean's apartment. She slowly stalked behind Sean and placed her hands on her hips as she waited for Sean to open the front door. Once he did, Michelle passed by him and grabbed her keys that were sitting on the coffee table. Then she went into Sean's bedroom and grabbed her clothes and her jacket. Before she left his room though, she noticed the clothes on the bed that she wore last night. She remembered how she loved the scent of Sean on her. Michelle quickly shook that thought from her head and headed out of the bedroom.

She was about to go out the front door but Sean blocked her from leaving. "Move Sean."

"Michelle, please wait. Don't go. I don't want you to be mad at me. Okay? I get it, alright? I get why you're upset. I understand. Sweetie, I'd be mad too. But please don't be angry with me." Sean pleaded with her as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "I hate it when you're mad at me. So please, spare me the pain of you being mad at me."

Michelle refused to look him in his eyes. She knew that if she did, she'd instantly forget why she was even mad. Hell, even know with him just touching her she forgot what made her so upset. But in an instant she remembered again and she just broke down crying.

Sean wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He whispered encouraging words in her ear as he rubbed her back.

"I just… I can't believe she had the nerve to bring up my mother's death. And _then_ she felt like she had any right to ask me to tell my _father_ whom she _slept with_ that she was sorry for his loss and if he needed anything to call _her!_" Michelle cried.

"I know… I know Michelle. I'd be pissed off too believe me." Sean replied as he held her close. So close in fact that he could smell the strawberry scent of her hair. He silently wondered if her hair naturally smelt like that because he knew he didn't have strawberry scented shampoo or conditioner.

Michelle's body shook with every heart wrenching sob. She clenched Sean's shirt and sniffed back her tears. Michelle lifted her head to look into Sean's brown eyes; his beautiful brown eyes. They always looked at her with such tenderness. She would've sworn that she saw another emotion in them too but she couldn't quite place it. Either way, the look in his eyes led her to lean into him and kiss him on his lips.

At first Sean was shocked but then he kissed her back. His hand right hand curled in her blonde hair as his left hand pulled her closer to him.

Michelle grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him back into the living room and onto the couch, with him falling on top of her.

Sean knew what Michelle wanted, and a part of him wanted her too. But he knew that it wouldn't be right. Michelle was in a vulnerable state now and he didn't want to take advantage of her. As Michelle started to take his shirt off, he grabbed her hand to stop her.

Michelle looked up at him and into his eyes. "What you don't want me, Sean?" She asked a little hurt.

Sean sighed and shook his head. "Not like this." Sean replied. His face stung as Michelle's hand connected with his cheek. She pushed him up off of her and ran into his bedroom. "Michelle." Sean called out to her.

"Just leave me the hell alone Sean!" Michelle yelled from his bedroom. She came back out from his bedroom, wondering where she left her clothes then saw them sitting by the door. She picked up her things and was about to leave when something stopped her. She felt like she couldn't move when physically, nothing was holding her back. Michelle fell to her knees and broke down once more.

She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and lift her up off the ground. She knew instantly that it was Sean. She wanted to fight out of his arms but she didn't have the strength to. So she just allowed him to carry her into his room and lay her on his bed. Michelle cried until she fell asleep.

Sean let out a heavy sigh and covered Michelle up with his blanket. He then stood up from the bed and closed the bedroom door. He brushed his hair back and shook his head. He hoped and prayed that Michelle wouldn't hate him forever. Letting out another sigh, Sean laid down on his couch and wrapped himself up in a blanket. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep; he just wanted to lay there.

**A/N: So that was this chapter. And it was a lot longer than the first two =) Hope you all still enjoyed it! And by the way, this is far from the end! =) Please review! **


	4. Chapter 4

Ch.4

Michelle woke up the next morning with her head pounding. She hadn't drunk last night, so she knew that she wasn't experiencing a migraine due to a hangover. Michelle slowly lifted her head and assessed her surroundings. At first glance, she was confused about where she was, but then she had remembered what had happened. She remembered having breakfast with Sean, and then they both went to meet with their new client, Cynthia Mills. Michelle couldn't stop the scowl that appeared on her face at the mere thought of the blonde woman.

Michelle fought hard with herself to remember what else had happened after that. Michelle pushed her hair back and threw her feet over the bed. She stepped onto the cold, hardwood floor and felt a chill run through her body. She safely assumed that Sean was in the kitchen making breakfast since he wasn't in his bedroom with her.

As she made her way out into the kitchen, Michelle saw that Sean was not in there. Michelle's brow furrowed as she walked out into the living room. She instantly recognized Sean's long fame on the small couch. She walked over to his sleeping figure and poked him in his side. Instead of waking up, Sean just rolled on his side. Michelle couldn't help but to smile at that.

Michelle took a seat on the couch next to Sean and she allowed her hand to roam across his facial features. She went from his brow, down his distinct jaw line, across his cheek and then traced his lips. Michelle bit her lip as she remembered how his lips felt against hers last night.

That memory popped into Michelle's head and her eyes went wide. She had kissed Sean? She remembered being rather upset and then breaking down. Sean was there for her. And then she kissed him. She also threw herself at him, trying to get him to sleep with her for her own comfort. And then, when Sean told her he didn't want to, she threw a big fit.

Michelle shook her head at that. She couldn't believe that she had acted so badly. She also couldn't believe that she had gotten mad at Sean for being a kind and respectful gentleman. He didn't sleep with her because he knew of the state she was in and he didn't want to take advantage of her. She commended him for that. No other man who Michelle knew would've done the same; they would've slept with her anyways. She would thank him for that later.

Sighing lightly, Michelle gently shook Sean's shoulder, trying to wake him up. He stirred slightly, only to roll onto his back. Michelle laughed to herself and shook her head. It was always fun trying to wake Sean up; and by fun, she meant extremely hard. Another thought popping into her head, she decided to have some fun with waking him this time. She bit down on her bottom lip as she carefully maneuvered herself to straddle Sean's lap. Michelle laughed to herself as she looked down at Sean's sleeping figure. She wondered how he would react to her sitting on him like this.

Michelle pushed her hair back behind her ears and leaned down, close to Sean's face. She whispered seductively into his ear, "Wake up sleepy head." Michelle had to quickly pull her head away otherwise Sean's head would've collided with hers.

His head instantly shot up and Michelle couldn't help but to laugh. Sean playfully glared at her before a smile came across his face. He shook his head at her and rubbed his eyes. "I'm gonna get you back for that, I hope you know." Sean warned her.

Michelle continued to laugh. After a minute, her laughter ceased. "Ah, sorry. It was just too fun an idea to resist." Michelle said with another laugh.

Sean raised his eyebrow. "Oh really now?" He asked as he sat up, his face inches from hers. "Well, this idea is just a little too fun to resist."

Before Michelle could react, Sean flipped her onto her back and started to tickle her sides, causing her to burst out laughing. "Seannn! Pleaseee stopppp!" Michelle said through her laughter.

"Nope! Not until you apologize for waking me up!" Sean demanded as he continued to tickle her.

"Haha! Nnnneeever!" Michelle retorted as she continued to laugh.

Sean shook his head and stopped tickling her for a moment before grabbing her hands and holding them down above her head. Another idea came to his mind and this one seemed to be a lot more fun. "Alright then, since tickling you won't break ya, I'll have to use another tactic that will."

Michelle's eyes grew wide in wonder as she mentally went through all the things that Sean could do. The one he went with though, she didn't think he would do. His lips gently met hers in a sweet kiss. Michelle was taken aback by this at first but then she returned the kiss.

Sean slowly released Michelle's hands from his grasp and instead they cupped her face, pulling her closer to him. In a million years, he'd never thought he'd actually be able to do this. Sure, he'd thought about it a lot, he even dreamed about it, but he never thought it'd actually happen. As he felt her tongue trace his lips, he parted his mouth, allowing her entrance. Sean felt Michelle tug at his hair and he let out a soft moan against her lips.

The loud shrill of the fire alarm pulled them apart. Sean was the first to pull away and when he did, he grabbed Michelle's hand instinctively. He looked around the small apartment, but didn't notice anything smoking. He looked back at Michelle. "Did you turn anything on? Like the stove or anything?"

Michelle quickly shook her head. "No. I went to the kitchen but when I noticed you weren't in there, I came out here."

Sean pulled himself and Michelle up from the couch and walked back towards the bedroom. He noticed dark smoke emerging from his bathroom. His eyes grew wide. "Shit! Michelle get out of here!" He urged her as he motioned towards the front door. He rushed back to his bedroom and grabbed several items from his nightstand drawer before rushing back out with the items in his pocket. He looked around the counter for his keys and cell phone then realized that Michelle must've grabbed them before she went outside.

Sean quickly rushed out the front door and saw Michelle standing by the car.

"I grabbed your keys!" He heard her yell to him.

Sean nodded his head and ran to her side. "Did you call the fire department?" Sean asked her as he looked her over. She looked scared to death.

Michelle quickly nodded her head. "Yeah. They said that they'd send a fire truck and ambulance here. I told them that we weren't injured but they insisted on sending it out."

Sean noticed her bottom lip tremble and he quickly pulled her into his arms. "Hey, it's okay Michelle. We're okay."

"I know but it's just… It's a lot that's been going on these past few days. It's hard."

"I know honey. I know." He replied as he held her close to him. Before either of them could react, Sean's apartment blew up, sending them both flying back. Sean landed hard on his back and Michelle landed maybe five feet from him on her stomach. Sean groaned in pain as a fire truck pulled up. Before the firefighters could even get out of their truck, Sean had passed out.

~ * * * * At the Hospital * * * * ~

Hours later, Sean woke up in a hospital bed. He anxiously looked around the room and noticed that no one else was in there with him. He looked at his arm and saw an IV stuck in his arm. He sighed heavily. What the hell had happened to make the apartment blow up like that? As he thought about that, another thought popped into his head. Michelle!

Sean quickly rose up from the bed, causing a lot of alarms to go off on his machine that he was hooked up to. A man who appeared to be in his early forties, and who Sean assumed was his doctor, rushed into the hospital room and laid Sean back against the bed.

"Mr. King, you'll have to stay in bed for now. You're hooked up to the machines so we can monitor your heart rate and blood pressure. We're also running antibiotics, saline and pain killers in your system now." The doctor, whose name tag read Dr. Richards, told Sean.

"Where's Michelle?" Sean asked worriedly as he stared at the doctor. Sean didn't notice that he had grabbed ahold of the doctors' arm.

Dr. Richards gazed down at Sean. "You mean the young woman who was brought in with you? She's in ICU right now; she's being treated for far worse injuries. You were highly lucky that you didn't tear those stitches in your shoulder. Miss Maxwell, however, wasn't as lucky. She had a contusion to her head that rendered her unconscious. She's under heavy observation from now on."

Sean's mouth gaped at him. "Are you shitting me? And you want me to just lay here?!" Sean scolded.

"Sir, I have to watch after you. I cannot do that if you are not in this room."

"Then have someone else in the ICU watch after me! I can't just sit here in this room and not go crazy! I have to be in there with her! Please!" Sean pleaded with the doctor.

Doctor Richards sighed heavily as he gazed at the heart monitor. "I'll be back once you calm yourself down. I do not want to say anything to further upset you. Also, the police will be in here shortly to question you about the explosion." With that, the doctor left without looking back at Sean.

Sean cursed under his breath and stared at the IV in his arm. He bit his lip and pulled it out before detaching the other wires that he was hooked up to. He ignored the loud wail from the machine and quickly pushed himself up off the bed and made his way through the hallway. Before he could even get to the elevator, another doctor and a security guard grabbed him.

"Sir, you cannot be out of bed!" The guard said as he, with the help of the doctor, tried to take Sean back to his room.

"I have to! I have to get to Michelle! Please just let me go! I have to see her!" Sean yelled as he fought to get out of their hands. It proved to be futile because they both had a strong grip on him and it was starting to tire him. Sean gave up and allowed the two men to take him back to his bed.

The doctor shook his head at Sean and stuck the IV back into him. The doctor then reattached the wires to Sean. The young man with dark hair noticed the perspiration that had formed on Sean's forehead. "You need to be very careful Mr. King. That could've very easily turned bad." The young man informed him.

"I know. But I have to see Michelle. I have to know that she's okay." Sean said in an exhausted tone.

The young doctor gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry sir. I can't do anything about that. Hopefully Dr. Richards will help you with that. If I could, I certainly would." With that, the young doctor walked out of the hospital room, once again leaving Sean on his own. Only this time, there was a security guard at the door.

Sean sighed heavily and laid his head back against the bed. He wanted desperately to be with Michelle. He just wanted to be there and hold her hand and let her know that everything would be okay. Sean didn't know what he would do if something happened to Michelle. Sean pushed that thought from his head as Benny came into sight.

"Sean! What the hell happened?" Benny asked as she stared at the man.

"I don't know. We were just on the couch and then the fire alarm started going off. I noticed that there was smoke coming from the bathroom, so we got out of there. I thought that we'd be okay if we were outside the apartment. But then, out of nowhere, the place blew up." Sean shook his head as he remembered the traumatic event. "My doctor said Michelle took the worst of it." Sean told Benny as his eyes clouded over. He quickly blinked them away so that Benny wouldn't see them.

Benny sighed heavily and walked over to his side. She grabbed ahold of his hand. "I'm sure that she'll be okay Sean. Michelle is a strong woman."

"I know she is. But I'm just…. I'm just so scared to lose her. She's the best person in the world that I know and… If something happened to her, I don't know what I'd do." Sean admitted quietly.

"It won't come to that, Sean. Michelle will be okay. She'll survive this. She overcomes everything. You of all people should know that." Benny said as she poked Sean's arm.

Sean smiled lightly at that. "Yeah. I know. I'm just scared."

"I know you are. But just have faith, k?"

Sean nodded his head and looked at Benny. "Benny, where's Edgar?"

As if on cue, Edgar walked in the room. "The security guard didn't believe me when I said I was related to Sean. He wanted ID. I told him I didn't have any." Edgar told Benny in a flat tone.

Benny laughed and looked at Edgar. "How'd you get past him?"

"He said he was going to get some back up, so I came back here after he left. He didn't tell me to stay." Edgar answered.

Benny laughed again before looking back at Sean. "So, um, did the doctor say whether or not you can see Michelle?"

"As of right now, I doubt it. He doesn't seem to like me much already for some reason." Sean answered as he reached for his pocket, only to realize he wasn't wearing his jeans. His eyes bolted around the room as he looked for them. "Benny, do you see my jeans anywhere?"

Benny looked around the hospital room and nodded when she saw the pair of black jeans on the table in the corner along with Sean's shirt and shoes. "Yeah, they're over here on this table. Why, what's up?"

Sean sighed in relief. "Good. I'm glad they're over there. I thought they were gone."

Benny raised an eyebrow. "What's so special about them?" She asked as she sat at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, it's not the jeans I'm worried about. It's what's inside my pockets." Sean replied as he stared at Benny.

Benny, intrigued, stood up from the hospital bed and walked over to Sean's jeans. Feeling Sean's eyes on her, Benny looked back at Sean, who nodded at her, silently telling her it was okay. Benny turned back to the jeans that sat atop the table and reached inside the pocket. She squinted her eyebrows as she felt the object inside his pocket. She wasn't for sure what it was so she pulled it out. Her eyes grew wide as she realized exactly what it was. Her eyes met Sean's and he nodded his head at her unasked question. She looked back at the small object and smiled.

**A/N: So, that was chapter four. Thank you all for all the reviews and the alerts! I'm glad that you all love this story! Please continue to read and review! Also, what do you guys think was in Sean's jean pocket? Will Michelle recover? And if she does, will there be any complications?**


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

Everything hurt. Her head, her back, her legs, even her shoulder. Michelle's eyes slowly fluttered open, her vision was still very blurry. Michelle closed her eyes to try to stop her from spinning. She felt rather dizzy all of a sudden.

Michelle lay in the hospital bed as she tried to pinpoint her last memory before blacking out. However, she was coming up short. She knew that she was with Sean, but she couldn't remember what they were doing, or how she managed to end up in the hospital. She wondered if Sean was there as well.

Sean!

Michelle's eyes popped open and she quickly sat up in the bed and then winced in pain. Her ribs were killing her too. Michelle decided that it'd probably be better for her to just lie back on the bed.

As she looked around the room, Michelle gasped when she saw the person sitting not even three feet away from her. Michelle was about to scream for help, but the person got to her and covered her mouth before she could. Michelle tried to fight the person off but it proved useless in her state. She was still very weak from whatever had happened. Feeling the oxygen rush from her lungs and the heaviness of her eyes, Michelle knew that she was about to slip into unconsciousness again.

"Okay, and are you for certain that you don't recall anyone sending you or your partner any threatening emails or phone calls? Would any of your previous or current clients have any reason to harm either of you?" Detective Arnold Palmer asked Sean as he sat in a chair in the corner of the hospital room.

Sean was sitting up in his hospital bed and anxiously twisted his fingers. "As I've told you before sir, no, I cannot think of anyone who would want to hurt us. And I have not received any threatening emails or phone calls. As for my partner, I don't believe that she has either. She would've told me if she did." Sean answered as he looked down at his watch. His doctor had cleared him to go see Michelle, but he first had to deal with the state police. Why they were handling this case instead of the local LEOs, Sean would never know.

"Okay, so how about any new clients that you guys have taken on? Any of them have some sort of issues with either of you?" Palmer asked as he tapped his pen on his pad.

Sean shook his head at first then a thought popped into his head. "Well, Michelle & I did just take on a new client. Her name is Cynthia Mills. She wanted us to look into the death of her brother. She was acquainted with Michelle; she had an affair with Michelle's dad and she split up Michelle's parents' marriage."

Palmer made note of this and then motioned towards his partner, Detective Sanchez. "Sanchez, I want a background check on this Cynthia Mills and try to gather as much information on her as you can." The younger Detective nodded his head and then left the room. Detective Palmer then looked at the security guard. "Collins, would be you so kind as to see if our other victim, Miss Michelle Maxwell, has awakened yet?"

_You better hope that she hasn't._ Sean thought to himself as the security guard nodded his head in response to the detective. He then headed out the door and down the hallway towards ICU. Sean turned his attention back towards Detective Palmer.

Palmer gave Sean a small smile before sitting back down in his seat. "So, do you have any contact information for this Cynthia Mills?"

"Uh, yeah, it's at my office." Sean responded as he looked at his watch again. He'd been clear to go see Michelle for two hours now, but he had yet to go see her due to this idiot and all of his stupid routine questions.

"Do you know of anyone that could get you that information?" Palmer asked impatiently.

Sean took in a deep, calming breath before he looked at the man. Palmer had a receding hairline and a rather large forehead. His eyes were a dark shade of blue and his skin was rather pale. He looked to at least be in his late fifties. Sean sighed heavily before reaching for his cell phone. He pressed #3 on the speed dial. The phone rang three times before being picked up. Sean waited to hear a greeting but he received none. He then realized that Edgar must've picked up the phone. "Hey Edgar, it's Sean. Can you get me Cynthia Mills phone number and home address please?"

"Cynthia Mills. Sean you did not file the information yet on Cynthia Mills." Edgar replied flatly.

"Yeah, I know. Can you look it up on the computer for me?"

"Yes."

Sean waited patiently to hear the typing on the keys and a reply but he received none. He then recognized his mistake. "_Will_ you look it up on the computer?"

"Yes, Sean."

Sean smiled lightly as he heard the methodical tapping of the keys and smiled hopefully at Detective Palmer.

"Sean, there isn't a woman by the name of Cynthia Mills in this city, or in the state." Edgar informed him.

Sean furrowed his brow in confusion as he motioned towards Detective Palmer. "I'm sorry Edgar, could you repeat that?" Sean asked as he put the phone on speaker phone.

"There isn't a woman by the name of Cynthia Mills in this city, or in the state." Edgar repeated.

Officer Palmer's eyes grew wide as he looked at Sean. "Don't you do routine background checks on all new clients?"

"I hadn't gotten around to it yet because I just took the case yesterday. I haven't even begun to do any work on it." Sean replied as the security guard rushed in, appearing to be out of breath.

"Miss… Miss Maxwell… She's gone." Collins replied.

Sean's eyes went to the man. "Gone? What the hell do you mean she's gone?!" Sean demanded.

"She's gone. Appears as if there was a struggle." Collins said once he caught his breath.

Anger flashed in Sean's eyes as he looked at Detective Palmer. Before anyone knew what was happening, Sean pounced on the older man and pushed him up against the wall with much force. Sean's left hand was wrapped around Palmer's throat, and his right hand was holding Palmer's left arm against the wall so he couldn't reach for his gun.

"You son of a bitch! If you would've just let me see her and you interview us together, this wouldn't have happened!" Sean yelled as he held the man against the wall.

Collins instantly took action and pulled Sean off of the State Trooper.

Palmer clutched his throat. "I can have your ass arrested for that!" Palmer yelled as he pointed at Sean.

"Go ahead! It'll be your ass! You let a damn witness to get a crime get kidnapped! You stupid son of a bitch! Matter of fact, if you don't lock me up, I'm going to end up committing two murders! Yours and the bastard that took Michelle!" Sean threatened as Security Guard Collins held him back.

"Sir!" Officer Sánchez yelled as he entered the room. He instantly felt the tension but he ignored it. "A woman who fit the description of Miss Maxwell was just transported in an ambulance! The doctors said that no one authorized the transfer!"

"View the security feed and find me that ambulance!" Detective Palmer ordered before he tried to leave the room but Sean stopped him by grabbing his arm. "That's the second time you've put your hands on me King and it'd better be your last!"

"Tell my doctor to let me go with you. If this was Cynthia's doings, I was the only other person besides Michelle to see her up close that lives in this area. I can help you." Sean urged, hoping that the man would let him go.

Detective Palmer groaned. "I'm only letting you do this because you're the only one who can give us a description of this woman."

Sean thanked the man and then followed him out the room. Sean just hoped and prayed to God that they would find Michelle before it was too late.

**A/N: So that was this chapter! Sorry that it wasn't very long but I didn't want to jam too much into one chapter! So, who do you think took Michelle? Was it Cynthia? Or was it someone else?**


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

Michelle Maxwell let out a muffled cry as the man who abducted her ran his hand over her breasts. She tried to pull away from him, or at least kick him, but she was strapped down to a bed. Her mouth was also covered, so she couldn't scream. Michelle squirmed as the older man's other hand ran up her thigh.

"Aw come on, Michelle. It's just like old times, baby girl." The man said as he squeezed Michelle's thigh.

Michelle felt like throwing up all over the man. But the bandana stuffed in her mouth and the duct tape over it would prevent her from doing so and she'd probably end up swallowing her own vomit. The man who stood before her sickened her beyond extent. She loathed the man. She honestly wished that he was still in jail, or better, dead.

"Ugh, James, must you do that while I'm here?"

Michelle's eyes went to the voice and saw a blonde haired woman who walked into the dark room. As her eyes adjusted to the woman, Michelle recognized who it was; Cynthia Mills. The bitch had double-crossed her and Sean. Michelle knew from the start that she didn't like the home-wrecking whore.

The man, now identified as James, stood up from his chair that sat next to Michelle's bed and made his way over to Cynthia. "I wasn't aware that you would be back so soon." James said as he stood behind her.

"So soon? I was gone almost two hours. You had plenty of time to do whatever the hell it is that you wanted to do. You knew that I had to dump the damn ambulance. And I wasn't going to just park it out front in hopes that a cop would drop in on us." Cynthia retorted as she nodded towards Michelle. "Did you give her the sedative?"

"Yup. Sure did." James replied as he lit up a cigarette.

Cynthia waved her hand in front of her nose to wave away the smoke. "And why in the hell do you have to smoke in here?"

James sneered and blew the smoke into Cynthia's face, causing her to cough loudly. "Well, this place _is_ abandoned. Plus there's this big ol' sign out front that says 'No Trespassing.' So I figure, why smoke outside and take the risk of a 'cop dropping in on us'?" James mimicked Cynthia's voice.

Cynthia rolled her eyes and pulled out some perfume from her purse and began to spray it around the room.

Michelle just laid there and watched the pair interact. Neither of them seemed to be too fond of each other, so why are they working together? And just what are they planning to do? Michelle looked to her hands and tried to pull them free from the handcuffs, but it proved useless. They were on too tight.

James noticed what Michelle was trying to do and he smiled at her evilly. "Aw sweetie, you aren't going to be able to get out of those. Those are the kinds that the police use; standard issue. You should know that."

Michelle glared at the man and wished that she could punch him in the face with all the force in the world that she had. As James walked closer to her and placed his hand back on her thigh, Michelle clenched her eyes closed and thought about Sean. She hoped and prayed to God that he would find her.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx

Sean sat back in the black sedan as he and Detective Arnold Palmer rode over to Michelle's house. Palmer thought there may be some sign of where Michelle could be if he looked at her house. Sean, of course, thought otherwise. Michelle had stayed with him recently, but he didn't feel it was necessary to let the detective know that.

As they pulled up to Michelle's house, Sean instantly knew something was off. He quickly unbuckled the seat belt and jumped out of the car before Palmer could even put the car in park.

"Hey! Don't touch anything King! You may contaminate evidence!" Palmer yelled out to Sean.

Sean reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of gloves that he'd always kept in his coat and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. Sean's eyes went wide as the door opened. Michelle always locked her door; which meant someone must've been in here, or they were still here. Sean quietly opened the door and peered inside the small living room.

His eyes glanced around the room and he noticed that there were several items that were tossed onto the floor. Michelle's black leather couch had been turned over, along with her reclining chair. Sean went further into the home and walked back towards Michelle's bedroom. He quickly noticed that her bedroom door was open and that several items were on the floor. While it wasn't unusual for Michelle to leave her home a mess, it wasn't as bad as it was now.

As Sean drew in a deep breath, he smelt something off. His brow wrinkled as he walked into Michelle's bedroom. He didn't notice anything unusual. That was until he walked over to the other side of her bed and saw the body face down on the floor. Sean stumbled backwards and he fell against Michelle's dresser. He noticed the person that was lying on the floor with their head split wide open and blood seeping onto the floor. It was Frank Maxwell.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

Sean took a long drink of water that one of the detectives gave him. He stood against one of the police cruisers and shook his head. None of this made any sense; his home being blown up, Michelle being taken, or her father being killed in Michelle's home. Sean ran his fingers through his short brown hair as Rigby walked over towards him. Sean hadn't yet noticed him; his eyes were still trained on the small home.

Rigby had heard about what had happened when Sean's apartment had blown up. At the time, he was busy doing another case, but he wanted to be here in Wrightsburg as soon as he heard about it. He may not like King & Maxwell that much, but he had to admit that he had grown a soft spot for them. They both have helped out the FBI many times, and he felt he owed them that much to come here.

Sean's eyes drifted to Rigby and he gave him a surprised smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Heard about what happened. Agent Carter and I wanted to see what was going on." Rigby answered as he looked back towards his partner, who was busy talking to one of the officers on the scene. "So, you found her father in her bedroom?"

Sean slowly nodded his head as he looked back towards Michelle's house. "Yeah. It looks like someone bashed his head in with something." Sean replied with a shake of his head. "It's awful. I can't believe someone would kill him. Hell, I can't believe someone would take Michelle."

"Or try to blow the two of you up." Rigby reminded him.

Sean nodded his head in response. "Yeah. That was crazy too. None of it makes any sense to me."

"Well it's obvious someone has some sort of issue with you two; or maybe just Michelle." Rigby suggested as he tilted his head to the side. Rigby and Carter had talked about everything that had happened with Sean and Michelle on the car ride over. Carter was convinced that someone was after Michelle for some reason. And that theory was somewhat confirmed when Detective Palmer told Rigby that Sean suspected it may have something to do with a woman who had an affair with Michelle's father.

"So, what is this woman's name that you two had taken on as a client?" Rigby asked Sean.

"Well, she told me it was Cynthia Mills. That's what Michelle believed her name was too. But when Edgar searched her up, he didn't find her." Sean replied as he looked back towards Michelle's house. He really hoped that she was okay. He couldn't quite piece together why someone would want to take her, but he was determined to figure it out.

"Okay. Do you have a picture of her with you? Or maybe you could give me a description?" Rigby asked as he pulled out a small notebook.

"No, I don't have a picture. And I already gave the state police a description of her." Sean replied.

"Well, they don't really have the resources like I do." Rigby told him. Sean looked back at Rigby and Rigby gave him a small smile. "You should know that I will go through everyone I know to try to help you."

Sean smirked slightly. "I thought you hated us."

"I do, but as much as I hate to admit it, you both have helped out the FBI and I owe you one. Actually, I owe you more than one. Plus, I don't like these coincidences. You both take on a new client whose brother supposedly died. Then you both nearly get blown up. Michelle gets abducted and her father gets killed in her own home. I want to find out who did this as much as you."

Sean nodded his head before rubbing his face. "Well um… She's Caucasian. She's about 5'7. Average build. Medium length blonde hair. Blue eyes. Umm…"

"I was asking for a description of the woman who you took on as a client, not your partner. I believe I know what she looks like by now." Rigby teased as he wrote all the information that Sean was giving him down.

Sean shook his head with a slight smile. "Michelle's 5'10 with an athletic figure. Plus her hair is a lot longer than medium length. She's nowhere near average, Rigby."

"Don't I know it? Okay, is there any other information that you can think of? About how old is she? Any distinct facial features?" Rigby asked.

Sean rubbed his chin as he thought back to Cynthia Mills. He hadn't really paid much attention to her, if he was honest with his self. Sean closed his eyes and tried to focus. He needed to remember something, anything, if he was going to find Michelle. He was certain that "Cynthia" was tied into this somehow. As Sean thought about Cynthia, he remembered something. "Okay, um… Early thirties? She has a scar under her left eye. About an inch long horizontally. Also, she had a beauty mark next to her lip on the right side."

Rigby made note of this then motioned over to Carter. Carter slowly approached and nodded his head at Rigby. "Carter, I need you to call Alan. Tell him I need a favor." Rigby started as he ripped out the piece of paper with the information Sean gave him. "Ask him to sketch a composite of what this woman may look like. All the information is here. Then ask him if he will run the picture through the database to see if any matches come up."

"You got it boss." Carter replied as he took the paper and walked off towards the car.

Rigby turned his attention back to Sean. "Hopefully with the information you gave me, I can find something for you. The sooner we can find your partner the better."

Sean nodded his head. "Yeah I know. With abducted victims, time is never on our side."

"Not at all. Not unless they're keeping her for a certain reason. Can you think of anything?" Rigby asked.

Sean shook his head. "No. I honestly have no idea. But I can guarantee you that I will find out one way or another." Sean replied as another cop car pulled up. Sean's brow furrowed as three men, not in uniform stepped out of the car. He recognized one of them and then he instantly put together who the other two were. "Shit." Sean cursed under his breath.

J.T. Maxwell followed behind his two brothers as they made their way towards Sean King. J.T. looked towards the small house that belonged to his baby sister and sighed sadly. Their father was dead, and their little sister was missing. Someone they knew was behind this. He just didn't know who.

Before J.T. knew what was happening, he heard a groan and a loud noise. He looked up and saw that his brother Bobby had thrown Sean up against a police cruiser. "Bobby!" J.T. yelled as he ran towards his brother.

Bobby Maxwell had a look of rage in his dark blue eyes and his bulky 6'2 frame held Sean against the car. "You son of a bitch! Why the hell didn't you call us to let us know what happened?!" Bobby demanded.

Sean gripped Bobby's hands as he tried to pry them from him. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't call! I'm concerned about her too, okay? It completely slipped my mind!"

"Excuse me, sir, but who the hell are you?" Rigby asked as he looked at Bobby then back towards the other two young men. He noticed one of them as J.T. Maxwell, Michelle's brother.

Bobby turned his attention to Rigby and sneered. "I'm Bobby Maxwell. I'm Michelle's older brother. Who in the hell are you?"

Rigby raised an eyebrow as he pulled out his badge. "I'm Agent Rigby. I'm in the FBI. I'm working this case." Rigby answered, noticing that Bobby's eyes softened and his grip release on Sean.

"Sorry sir. I'm just… It's a lot that's going, what with my father being dead and my sister being taken. Do you know who did it yet?" Bobby asked.

Agent Rigby shook his head. "Not yet, no. But we may have a lead. Do you three know of a woman named Cynthia Mills?"

Bobby looked at J.T. then at their other brother Billy. As he looked back at Rigby, Rigby noticed the look of anger in his eyes. "Cynthia Mills was the woman our father had an affair with. She broke up our parent's marriage. How is she involved in this?"

"She may not be, but now that's the only lead we have. Sean and Michelle were going to be taking her on as a client. She told them that she needed help finding out if her brother was killed or if it was just a suicide." Rigby explained.

Billy, the middle one with sharp blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, furrowed his brow. "Um… Sorry. Her brother?"

"Yeah. She said that she had a brother that was recently deceased." Sean replied as he looked at the three brothers. He secretly wondered where their other brother was but he didn't want to ask. As he looked at the three, he noticed the look on their faces.

"Cynthia Mills didn't have a brother. We checked her up." Billy replied.

"How did you do that when we couldn't even find her?" Rigby asked in an annoyed tone. He hated it when other people got information before he did.

"Well, dad had a picture of her. So, Bobby ran it through the system. It turned out that not only was her name _not _Cynthia Mills, but she didn't have any siblings." Billy answered.

"_But_ what was interesting was that she had a criminal background. Nothing too major like murder or anything, but theft and evading police." Bobby added.

"Oh and, she was linked to, but never convicted of an abduction and rape of a girl." Billy said.

"Wait, so this woman has helped abduct then sexually assault young girls?" Sean asked as he felt sick to his stomach. This wasn't looking good at all.

"Yep. It was awful." Billy answered.

Rigby held up a hand. This was all rather confusing to him. "Okay, hold up a minute. So, this woman named 'Cynthia' is a criminal? And she could've taken your sister for some other creep?"

This seemed to hit all of them pretty hard. "Oh God." Sean said as he swallowed thickly. He looked towards Bobby. "Was the girl ever found? Do they know who actually abducted and raped her?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. She was never found. And they did have the name on file of the guy, but I don't remember seeing it."

"Okay, one more thing. What the hell is this woman's real name?" Rigby asked as he pulled out his notebook again.

"Her name is Johanna Devereaux." Bobby answered instantly.

Rigby nodded his head in response before stalking off back towards his car, leaving the quartet to their own conversation. He wanted to know who was really behind the abduction and sexual assault of the girl. That may be the key piece to opening this whole case up. And if it was, he prayed that Michelle wouldn't have the same fate of the girl.

**A/N: Okay so this was chapter 6! I hope you call enjoyed it! Sorry for taking so long to post it up! Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing! But time for the BIG question! We all now know that Cynthia (Johanna) is behind this and her partner is James. But who exactly is James? Does he know the Maxwell family as well? And if so, how does he? Please read and review! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

Ch.7

Rigby glanced over the report that one of his law enforcement buddies had sent over for him on the kidnapping & sexual assault on the girl. As he read over the file once more, he pushed open the car door of the sedan and made his way towards King & three of Michelle's brothers. They seemed deeply engrossed in some conversation that Rigby was sure he did not want to be a part of.

Rigby approached the quartet and looked at Bobby Maxwell, the eldest of the Maxwell children. "Are you familiar with a James Lawrence?" Rigby asked as he held out the file towards Bobby.

Each of the Maxwell's eyes widened as Bobby took the file and read over it. "He's the one who committed that crime with the girl?" Bobby asked, stunned.

Rigby nodded his head before responding. "Yep. It happened about three years ago in a town not far from here. Do you know him?" Rigby asked as he glanced sideways at the brothers.

Bobby swallowed thickly, shared a glance with his brothers and then nodded his head. "Yeah uh… He's our uncle." Bobby answered, earning a questioning glance from both Sean & Rigby. "He is my dad's half-brother; they have different fathers."

"He also molested Michelle when she was little." JT revealed through clenched teeth. "When daddy found out, he beat the hell outta him before throwing his ass in jail. Michelle had to go through intensive counseling for three years before she came back around."

Sean's eyes widened at the information; he'd never heard anything from Michelle about it. Then again, why would she have told him? She surely didn't want to remember it and he couldn't blame her. "So, this guy is still in jail right?" Sean asked as he looked at Rigby, who wore an angered expression.

"Unfortunately, the asshole just made bail from Tennessee State three days ago." Rigby sneered.

"What?!" All four men yelled in unison.

"So, it is possible that this asshole and Cynthia, or whatever the hell her real name is, have Michelle?" Sean sneered. He was pissed and scared to death at the same time. Who knew what the asshole would do if he did have Michelle? Especially since Cynthia was involved too.

"It is unfortunately very possible, Sean. I'm going to get more details on his release and then I'll let you know what I find out." Rigby promised as he walked back to his car, leaving the four men alone once again. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number for Tennessee State Prison. "Yes, this is Agent Rigby with the FBI. I want any and all information and video feeds you have on an inmate who was recently released. His name is James Lawrence." Rigby listened to the other person on the line ask when he wanted this information. "When? Now damn it!" He answered angrily. The person asked another stupid question. "For what?! It's for a God damn criminal investigation damn it! Get it to me now!" Rigby yelled before giving the man on the other end his information so he could send him the files he requested.

Rigby hung up the phone angrily and then snarled. He would not sleep one second until they found Michelle.

Michelle cried out as she fell to the ground. She instantly pulled her knees to her chest and crawled backwards to the wall. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she stared up at the man. She truly hated him. She wished that she had her gun so that she could just shoot him. But unfortunately, she didn't have it.

James smiled devilishly at Michelle as he zipped his jeans back up. "That was nice, sweetheart. Just like old times, huh?"

Michelle wanted to scream "Go fuck yourself you sick bastard!" but she opted not to for fear that the man would become angry and attack her again. Instead, she merely glared at him with her tears stained blue eyes. James slowly walked towards her and Michelle flinched away from him. She backed herself into the corner but even that didn't stop James from getting to her. James grabbed her roughly by her arms and pulled her to her feet.

Her Secret Service training kicked in and Michelle head butted the taller man. He stumbled backwards, but didn't fall, so Michelle kicked him in his left knee. This caused the man to scream out in pain as he fell on the ground. She knew that she had just shattered his knee. That thought sent a smile to her face. Not giving James time to recover, Michelle landed an experienced kick to his temple, which rendered the man unconscious.

Michelle admired her handiwork for a moment before looking around the room. She found her clothes that James had ripped off her and quickly dressed. She then walked back over to James and searched him. She found his keys, a small hand gun, and his cell phone.

Michelle smiled triumphantly and then looked for a window to climb out of. She didn't want to take the chance of leaving out the door and having Cynthia sitting there waiting for James to come out. Not only that, but Cynthia probably had a much stronger weapon than a little hand gun.

Once Michelle found a window, she pulled two crates close to it and climbed up them. She carefully and quietly peered out the small window and saw that no one was out there. Michelle checked to make for certain that James was out cold before she opened the window. She jumped up and pulled her upper part of her body out of the window. Michelle looked around the outside of the house once more before confirming that no one was around. The bright sun nearly blinded Michelle; she'd been inside of a dark lit room for some days now, so it took a while for her eyes to fully adjust. She quickly pulled the rest of her body out of the house. Once her feet hit the ground, Michelle took off in a dead sprint. She wanted to get as far away from the house as possible.

Michelle could almost hear her leg muscles screaming in agony at her. They hadn't seen exercise this strenuous in days now, so it was a bit of a strain on her legs. But Michelle refused to slow her pace. She knew that if she wanted to escape that horrible place, she had to continue to run until she just couldn't run anymore.

About thirty minutes later, Michelle came to a stop. She had approached a sign that read "Town of Williamsburg." She'd been near this place before on a case with Sean, but that was years ago. She believed that when they came though, they entered Williamsburg another way. She definitely remembered the long road.

At the thought of her partner, Michelle pulled out James' phone and dialed the familiar number. After a couple of rings, the man picked up.

"Sean King." Sean answered.

Michelle smiled widely at the sound of his voice, but that smile quickly dissipated as she noticed Cynthia's truck rolling down the road towards her. Michelle sprinted through the woods until she was far enough away from the road. She was sure that Cynthia hadn't noticed her.

"Hello?" Sean demanded as he heard the sound of heavy breathing on the other end of the line. He silently wondered if someone had accidentally called his phone. That thought was quickly proven wrong when he heard the voice.

"Sean?"

Sean's eyes widened at the sound of her voice. "Michelle?! Oh my God! Where are you?! Are you?!" Sean asked in a rush as he ran towards Bobby's car.

"I can't talk very loud now. I just escaped from that place. Cynthia is looking for me now." Michelle replied quietly, though not answering any of Sean's questions.

Sean motioned for Billy, Bobby, and JT to come over. When they did, he mouthed "It's Michelle" then pointed to his phone.

Bobby's eyes went wide as he grabbed Sean's phone and put it to his ear. "Mick?!"

Tears pricked Michelle's eyes at the sound of her eldest brother's voice. "Bobby. Come get me please." Michelle cried.

Bobby choked back his own tears at his baby sister's cry for help. "I will Mick, just tell me where you are and I'll come get you."

"Uh… I'm outside of Williamsburg. I'm not sure from which direction. Umm... I'm standing in a large wooded area if that helps." Michelle told her brother before more tears fell down her cheeks. "Please hurry Bobby. Cynthia knows that I'm gone and she's looking for me now." Michelle cried.

"Okay Mick. I'll be there soon."

"Bobby wait! Before you hang up… Can I talk back to Sean?" Michelle asked, needing to hear his voice again.

Bobby handed Sean's phone back to him and Sean pressed the phone to his ear. "Michelle?"

Michelle actually fell at the sound of his voice. "God Sean, I miss you so much! I know I asked Bobby to come and get me, but will you come too? I need you so much!" Michelle admitted as she pulled her knees to her chest.

Sean felt his heart ache for her. "Honey, I was going to be going regardless of whether you wanted me to or not. And I'm sure that there will be other people who are very concerned about you that are coming as well." Sean told her.

Michelle's shoulders shook with her violent sobs. "Please just get here soon, Sean. I don't want them to find me."

Sean jumped into Rigby's car and Rigby took off like a bat out of hell following Bobby's car "We are already on our way Michelle."

"Okay. Sean please don't hang up the phone until you're close. Please." Michelle pleaded.

"I wasn't planning on it babe. We'll be there real soon okay? Just hang in there and stay in the woods." Sean told her. He hoped and prayed to God that they got to Michelle before Cynthia did.

**End Chapter 7! I hope that you all liked it! This is nowhere near the end! There will definitely be more drama! We also need to find out who was behind the murder of Michelle's father. And will Cynthia and James be back, seeking revenge? We shall see! Please read and review! I love getting reviews from you all! By the way, thank you for reading and liking this story! It means a lot to me! =D**


	8. Chapter 8

Ch.8

An hour and a half later, Michelle still sat in the large woods. She hadn't heard Cynthia's truck come back through, so she assumed that she was still searching for her. Luckily for Michelle, she hadn't been smart enough to check the woods. Michelle sighed heavily as she switched the phone to her left ear; her right arm was becoming tired. "Are you still with me, Sean?"

Sean King was in a FBI issued sedan with none other than Agent Rigby. They were doing 75 in a 40 mile per hour zone in the black car. Sean looked at the GPS on the dash and noticed that they weren't too far away from their destination. They should be coming up on the wooded area any minute now. But where exactly Michelle was, they weren't for sure. Rigby had tried to track the phone, but was unsuccessful; the phone Michelle was using was a burn phone, or untraceable. Sean nodded his head before responding, "Yeah, Michelle. I'm still here. We should be wherever you are soon."

"I hope so. It seems like it's getting dark, and fast." Michelle noted as she looked up. She couldn't see much of the sky due to all the trees, but she could definitely tell that it was getting darker.

Sean looked up at the skies and noticed this as well. "Yeah, I think there might be a storm coming in soon. Hopefully we get to you before it gets here."

Michelle stayed quiet for a minute as she heard another car coming down the street. "Sean, are you all close?" She asked quietly.

Sean looked back at the GPS. "We're about five minutes away. Why? What's up?" Sean asked worriedly.

Michelle stood up from her spot and walked in the direction away from Williamsburg, towards the house that she was trapped in. "I hear another vehicle coming down the road." Michelle replied as she tried to look through the trees towards the road. She really couldn't see anything at all. She just hoped that whoever it was couldn't see her either. In that moment, she heard someone running through the woods and coming in her direction. The person seemed to be coming from behind her, so Michelle took off running as well. She took off, running east of the road.

Rigby pulled alongside of the woods behind Bobby's police car. He & Sean instantly jumped out and Sean took off towards the woods. "King! You don't have a gun!"

But Sean didn't listen; he just continued to run. He wasn't going to let Michelle get taken from him again. He heard other hurried footsteps coming from behind him and he knew it had to be Rigby and Michelle's brothers. "Michelle!" Sean yelled out. He didn't receive an answer. This made him run faster than he had in years. He had to find Michelle. He just had to!

Suddenly, he collided with someone and they both fell to the ground. King scrambled to his feet and so did the other person. When Sean looked up, he couldn't hide his anger. "Damn it Billy!"

"I didn't know you were running this way!"

"How could you not see me?" Sean yelled back as he took off running again. He was not going to waste precious time arguing with Billy when he should be looking for Michelle.

"Sean!"

Sean's eyes widened at the scream; her scream. Sean's feet hit the ground harder as he pushed himself to run faster. He was so close, he could feel it. He wasn't going to let her slip through his fingers when he was this close to getting her back. "Michelle!" Sean called out. Again, he received no answer. "Michelle!"

Sean heard someone running, but once he turned to his left, the person already ran right into him. But they didn't knock him to the ground, although the force almost did knock him down. Sean sighed heavily and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He knew it was her by the smell of her hair. Thank God for strawberry scented shampoo. "Why the hell didn't you answer me when I called out to you?" Sean asked in a scared tone.

Michelle slowly pulled away from him and wiped her tears. "I couldn't. Someone was after me. They would've known where I was." Michelle replied in a shaky voice.

Sean quickly looked around the woods, but he didn't see anyone. His eyes went back to Michelle and he wiped her tears stained eyes. His heart swelled at the sight of her. "God, I'm so glad to see you." Sean said as he pulled her back into his arms.

"Me too. God, I was so scared. Hell I still am!" Michelle admitted as she rested her head against his chest.

"Mick!" The Maxwell brothers exclaimed in unison as they saw their baby sister.

Michelle hesitantly pulled away from Sean before being picked up and spun around by Bobby. "Oh my God Mick. I'm so glad that you're okay!" Bobby cried as tears sprung from his eyes.

"Yeah. Me too, Bubba." Michelle replied as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't believe that her brothers were here, though one was absent. "Where's Michael?"

"He undercover in a case right now, otherwise I would've called him and he would be here with us." Bobby answered as he pulled back and looked at his little sister. "You look bad, sis. You okay?" Bobby asked, afraid of the answer.

Michelle looked at Sean and then back at Bobby before giving him a sad smile. "I am now."

Rigby slowly approached the group, he felt a little awkward at being there, but he wanted to make for sure that Michelle was okay. He lifted his head and noticed that Michelle spotted him; he also noted the look of surprise on her face. Rigby gave her a meek smile. "I uh… I am assigned to the case and uh… had to make for sure you were okay." Rigby said.

Michelle smiled at him. "Thank you Rigby. It means a lot."

Rigby merely nodded his head. "No problem. You know I'll always be around if things go awry with either of you two." He said as he motioned to her and Sean.

Michelle looked back to her partner and smiled at him. "I'm ready to go back home."

Sean smiled back at her before thinking of a small joke. "I'm not. I just cleaned up the place. And now you're gonna be coming back and messing everything all up again."

Michelle shook her head at him before looking back at Rigby, who had approached her.

"Um…. I will need to see the place that you were at. I'm assuming that you got a look of it before you too off?" Rigby asked solemnly. He knew that it would be hard for Michelle to even drive back by the place, but he need to know where she was at so that way he could send CSRU out to collect evidence.

Michelle swallowed thickly and then nodded her head. "Yeah. It's just a lone house that's down the street." Michelle told him. As the group walked back towards their cars, Michelle grabbed onto Sean's hand and held it tight. Once they approached Rigby's car, Sean & Michelle took the back seat while Rigby took the driver seat.

Rigby took off down the road first, with Bobby, Billy, and JT right behind them.

Michelle clung to Sean's hand and looked out the window. She was scared that James or Cynthia would be outside of the house and that they would see her. But maybe, since she was in a FBI car, they wouldn't pay no mind. The car started to slow down as they approached the small house. Michelle knew instantly that it was the house she was kept in. Before Rigby could even ask, Michelle told him that it was the house.

Rigby made note of this before calling Carter to get a warrant to search the house. He also informed Carter that they had found Michelle; Carter was pleased with that information. Whether the two FBI guys wanted to admit it or not, they both had grown to like King & Maxwell. The car once again went down the street going at 75 miles per hour. Rigby wanted to get them all home as soon as possible.

About an hour later, Rigby came to a stop in front of Sean's lake house/ the King & Maxwell office. Rigby said his goodbyes and told the pair to call if they needed anything. Michelle's brothers had already left, but gave them their best and told them to call. Sean grabbed ahold of Michelle's hand as they walked down the gravel path to the front door of their office.

Sean heard movement from the kitchen and immediately called out to their other partner. "Edgar? You in there?"

"Yes. Benny is here too." Edgar called from the kitchen.

"Of course she is." Sean muttered, making Michelle smile.

Moments later, Edgar and Benny emerged from the kitchen. At the sight of Michelle, Benny rushed to her and embraced her in a tight hug. "Oh my God, girl! We were so worried about you!" Benny cried out. She pulled away from Michelle and looked her over. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"I'm a lot better now that I'm here." Michelle smiled.

Edgar slowly approached Michelle and held his arms open awkwardly. Michelle instantly fell into his arms. "Where were you Michelle?" Edgar asked.

"I was away somewhere. Someone abducted me, but I was able to escape." Michelle told him.

"Did these people get captured?" Edgar asked.

"Not yet, but I'm sure they will be soon." Michelle answered as she pulled away from him. She patted the pocket on his vest. "I'm just glad to see you Edgar. And I'm glad to see that you got a new pin." Michelle noted as she noticed the small green pin that looked like a woodpecker.

"Thank you. It's a mockingbird." Edgar stated as he walked back towards the kitchen.

Michelle laughed at herself. She couldn't believe she mistook a mockingbird for a woodpecker. She shook her head then looked back at Benny. "It's really great to see you Benny."

"Likewise. I'm going to head back in there with Edgar. You two probably have a bit to talk about." Benny smiled as she looked knowingly at Sean. She hoped that maybe he'd broach the subject of his feelings for Michelle, but knowing him, he probably wouldn't.

As soon as Benny walked back into the kitchen, Sean looked at Michelle and smiled at her. "You, uh, want to go back into the room to talk?" Sean asked her nervously.

Michelle simply nodded her head then walked back towards Sean's room, with Sean right behind her. Michelle sat lightly on the bed and scooted over to let Sean sit down next to her. As soon as Sean sat down, Michelle instinctively grabbed his hand. "God, I'm so glad to be back here." Michelle said quietly.

Sean pulled Michelle to him so that her head was resting against his chest and he wrapped his arm around her. "I'm glad you're here too, Michelle. I was so worried about you." Sean admitted as he placed a soft kiss in her hair. "I know that right now you don't want to talk about what happened, but I just want you to know that when you're ready, I'm here. Okay?" Michelle simply nodded her head. Sean sighed contentedly and just held her. He was honestly still quite worried about her. He didn't know what had happened to her. And he was scared to know. Sean knew that he would kill someone if Michelle told him that something horrible had happened to her.

Michelle sniffed back her tears and took in a deep breath as she listened to Sean's heartbeat. She felt safe with him. "I was just so scared, Sean. I was scared that they'd kill me and I'd never be able to see you again." Michelle admitted quietly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sean pulled her shaking figure closer to him before whispering in her ear, "I would never let that happen to you Michelle. I'd die before someone killed you. And I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to make for sure that doesn't happen to you again."

"You can't promise me that Sean."

"I can, and I am. I'll protect you until the day I die, Michelle." Sean promised her as he held her closer. He would never let anyone take her again. Not if he could do anything about it that is. He loved Michelle; he loved her far too much than he cared to admit. At first, the love he felt for her was just a love for a friend. And now, he loved her to the point that if he ever lost her, he would die. He'd feel incomplete without here. The past days without her killed him. He could barely function, but he knew that he had to at least try to find Michelle. And then today, he did. But that was mostly due to Michelle escaping on her own and calling him. Sean hated it that he could never truly save her. She had saved herself and him a countless several times, but he felt like he had never really saved her. Well, all of that would change now. There was no way that Sean would let her out of his sight again.

Michelle pulled her hair back behind her ears and looked up at Sean. "Do you remember the other day at your apartment?" Michelle suddenly asked him. She thought about that day the whole time she was locked up in that dark hell hole. Every time James had attacked her, Michelle thought about that day with Sean. It wasn't a long time they had together that day, but she just kept thinking about when Sean had kissed her. She thought about how she felt whenever they kissed; about how right it felt.

Sean was taken aback by this question. It was a completely random question to ask, but Sean had to answer it. "Yeah. I remember. Why?"

Michelle moved her head from Sean's chest to his shoulder so that her lips were inches from his. She looked into his brown eyes. She knew that his heart was pounding at the moment because she could see it in the vein in his neck; and hers was too. Michelle took in a deep breath as Sean's brown eyes bored into her blue ones.

Just as soon as Michelle's lips were about to meet Sean's again, the door came open and Benny put her hand up to her mouth at the image of the two. "Ohmigod! I'm like, so sorry! I- Um- Sorry. Someone called and they wanted to talk to you Sean. I think he said his name was Rigby?" Benny said as she held the phone out for Sean.

"Yeah. It's uh… It's okay." Sean said as he took the phone from Benny and held it to his ear. He moved the hair that fell in Michelle's face behind her ear before responding to Rigby. "Yeah?"

"We have a slight problem."

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Sean asked as he gazed at Michelle. She blue eyes stared at him in question. He simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. What else could've gone wrong now?

"The house that Michelle was being held captive in?"

"What about it?" Sean asked as his brow furrowed.

Rigby sighed on the other end. "It's gone. It was up in flames by the time CSRU got there."

**A/N: So that was chapter 8! I hope that you all really enjoyed it! I'm glad that you're all still enjoying this story! I enjoy writing it and I love seeing all of your reviews and everything! Please continue to review and read! Thanks so much! =D**


	9. Chapter 9

Ch.9

"You should've just killed the stupid bitch when you had the chance to, James." Cynthia scolded the older man as her slender fingers pulled back the white, linen curtain. After she started the fire at the safe house, they headed far East. Now they were staying in an old hotel in a ghost town. The hotel manager didn't ask many questions either, which Cynthia liked.

James bit the inside of his jaw as he rubbed his head. It still ached from where Michelle had kicked him in his temple. The blow left him unconscious for about two hours. Cynthia had to load him into her truck before lowing up the house.

"Well you know Jo," James started, referring to Cynthia by her real name Johanna; "You had the opportunity to kill her too. Plenty of times actually. Yet you didn't kill her either." James sneered.

Cynthia released the curtain and turned on her heel to face him. "I had to kill her father; a man I truly cared about! It was your job to take care of her!" She yelled as she pointed her finger at him.

"Oh yeah you really cared about him." James said sarcastically. "You didn't have to kill Frank. You did it to save your own ass. He found out about all of your misdeeds and he was gonna turn you in. You couldn't have that, could ya? You could've ran off again, changed your name and everything about you again, but you didn't. No, instead you _chose_ to kill him."

Cynthia glared at him with pure hatred in her eyes. "He wouldn't get back with me either. He 'claimed' he was trying to recover his relationship with his precious bitch of a daughter. So I figured if I couldn't have him, neither could his adoring 'baby girl."

James shook his head but said nothing further about it. Instead, he switched to a slightly different topic. "So what do we do now?"

Cynthia let out a deep breath before looking back out the window. "Now… We wait."

.

The following morning, Sean King & Michelle Maxwell traveled back down the long road near Williamsburg. They were meeting with Rigby to see the house that burned down. They were hoping to find some sort of evidence there, but the chances of that happening were minimal.

Rigby approached Michelle's Toyota as it came to a stop. "Glad you both could make it. Sorry for calling you back up here so soon."

"It's alright. We want to help." Sean said as he climbed out of the SUV and shut the passenger side door. He breathed in the fresh air before following Rigby to the house. "Any idea about what caused the fire?" Sean asked as he looked back towards Michelle to make for sure that she was okay. As their eyes connected, he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Well, the bomb techs said for sure that it wasn't a bomb. So I called in arson and they said they'd be here shortly." Rigby looked around the lot. "But I called them fifteen minutes before I called you two, and they still have yet to arrive." Rigby said with a shake of his head.

"Well, with Michelle driving, it never takes us very long to get to places." Sean joked with a light laugh, trying to lighten the mood some. Neither Rigby nor Michelle managed even a smile. Now, he knew that Rigby wasn't really a humorous kind of guy, but Michelle was. He was sure that being back at the home she was held at for days was bothering her.

Rigby let out a sigh of relief as a white van with "Arson" written on the side of it pulled behind Michelle's SUV. "It's about damn time that they showed up. I'm going to go and speak with them really quick. Feel free to have a look around." Rigby concluded with a nod of his head.

Sean turned towards Michelle once Rigby was out of earshot. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Michelle merely shook her head. "Just a lot of bad memories from the short time I was here in this hell hole." She stated with another shake of her head. She then nodded towards the charred remnants of the small home. "Let's see if we can find anything in this mess."

Sean eyed Michelle closely before following behind her. His eyes shifted from left to right as he expertly looked for anything that could be evidence. Unfortunately, his skilled eyes found weren't finding anything.

"You finding anything useful over there Michelle?" He questioned as he pushed himself off the hard ground.

Michelle sighed heavily. "Nope. Nothing. This blows." She huffed as she kicked some dirt.

Sean sighed too. "Yeah. I know it. Maybe the arson squad will have better luck with it." Sean replied as he touched her arm gently. "Let's go talk to Rigby."

The pair walked over to the older Federal Agent and Sean gave him a tired smile. "Hopefully your guys will have better luck with it than us. We didn't find anything." Sean said with a slight laugh.

"Yes hopefully so. Just got a call back from the Wrightsburg Police Department. They said that they found out what set your apartment ablaze and that they found out what caused the explosion." Rigby informed Sean.

"Okay, let's hear it then." Sean urged as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, the fire was started in the bathroom. A match was found near the remnants of your shower curtain. The fire unit said that someone deliberately burned the shower curtain, which led the fire to spread from the curtain to the rug, the walls, the floor, etc. As for the explosion, their initial thought was that the fire had simply spread to the gas heater and caused it to explode." Rigby stopped to let Sean take in the information that he had given him so far.

Sean nodded his head anxiously. "So, it didn't reach the heater?" Sean asked as he squinted his eyebrows.

Rigby shook his head. "No it did not. They found several components of a homemade bomb. It was compact enough not to take out the entire apartment complex, but it was just enough for your apartment. Whoever put it together really knew what they were doing."

Sean blinked several times as he absorbed this information. So someone really did try to blow him and Michelle up. But who? And why?

"Oh, and, the crime scene techs at her dad's place were able to find some fibers and a possible strand of hair. They're running it through CODIS as we speak." Rigby told them, referring to Frank Maxwell's murder, which Michelle still knew nothing about.

Michelle's eyebrows furrowed at this information as she looked from Rigby to Sean. "At my dad's house? Why were there crime scene technicians at my father's house?" Michelle questioned as she stared at Sean.

Sean glared at Rigby, who gave him an apologetic smile. Sean bit down on his bottom lip; He could feel Michelle staring a hole through him. He had no idea how to tell her that her father was viciously murdered.

"Sean?" Michelle demanded. She was growing both impatient and nervous; impatient because Sean was refusing to answer her and she hated waiting, but nervous because the only time Sean was hesitant to tell her anything was when it was something really bad.

Sean looked at Michelle and his hands fell to his sides. "Michelle... Honey, I'll tell you what happened, but can I at least tell you later?" Sean tried, knowing what the answer would but he figured that he'd at least try.

Michelle pursed her lips as she pretended to think about it. "Hmm.. Let's see... How about hell no?! Tell me now Sean!" Michelle demanded as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at Sean.

Sean sighed heavily. "Okay, fine. Can we at least go to your car then and discuss this?" Sean asked. When Michelle nodded her head, Sean gently took her by her arm and led her to the Toyota.

It was Michelle's turn to let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back against her SUV. "Okay, so what in the hell happened?" Michelle asked impatiently as she stared at Sean, who stood in front of her with his hands in his jean pockets.

Sean licked his suddenly dry lips as he withdrew his hands from his pockets and placed them on the SUV on either side of her. "Michelle... I'm really not sure how to tell you this..."

Michelle groaned in frustration and threw her hands in the air. "Just fucking tell me Sean! Please!" Michelle cried as tears formed in her eyes. She had a feeling of what he was trying to tell her, and she was dreading hearing the words come out of his mouth, but she knew that she needed to hear it.

Sean stared at her and saw the hurt and anger in her eyes. "You already know what I want to say, Michelle." Sean said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Please... Sean just it. Please." Michelle choked as a tear streamed down her cheek.

Sean swallowed hard and took in a deep breath. He hated to be the one to tell her, but as of now, he really had no choice but to tell her. "Michelle... Your father was murdered." No sooner did the words escape his mouth did Michelle fall into his chest. Sean instinctively wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He whispered soothing words into her ear and rubbed her back. He knew that it was killing her knowing that her father was gone. She had lost her mother not long ago, and now she had just lost her father. He couldn't imagine the pain she was going through.

After a few minutes, Michelle slowly pulled away and wiped her tears. "Why? Who in the hell would want to kill my father?" Michelle asked as she stared up at the sky.

"I'm not sure honey. Hopefully someone comes up with something at the lab when they run those fibers and hair through the database." Sean replied as his hands rubbed her shoulders. Michelle looked like she would crumble at any given moment.

Michelle nodded her head and bit down on her bottom lip, trying to keep herself from breaking down again. "It's just... It's so... I mean, I just lost my mother not long ago and now... Now I've lost my father." Michelle cried as tears fell down her face again.

Sean pulled her back into his arms and kissed her hair. "I know honey. It's too much to try to deal with at one time."

Michelle let out a shaky breath. "I just... I'm at a total loss Sean. I feel so lost and confused."

"Well you know I'm here for you Michelle. I'll always be here for you." Sean whispered his promise into her ear.

Michelle let out a calming breath and rested her head against Sean's chest. "I really wish I could get away for a while you know? Do something besides work for a change. Maybe go to the mountains, or the beach. Just get out and do something fun." She sighed. "It would just be nice to take a break from everything for a while."

Sean bit down on his bottom lip. "Well, maybe we can do something like that soon."

"Yeah. Maybe." Michelle replied before hesitantly pulling back to look at Sean. "I just want to go back home, Sean."

Sean nodded his head in response. "Okay. Let's go home then. If Rigby finds out anything of interest, I'm sure he'll call us." Sean responded. He led Michelle to the passenger side and opened the door for her. "I know that you normally drive, but I also know that you need a break. So you sit back and relax & I'll drive us home."

Michelle smiled at him. "Thank you." Michelle said before kissing him softly on his cheek and climbing into the passenger seat.

Sean smiled too before closing Michelle's door then rounding the SUV and climbed into the driver seat. He started the engine and then took off back towards Wrightsburg.

...

**A/N: I am soooo sorry for taking so long to update! I've just been without internet for a while and I haven't been able to post it up! But, now I have internet (hopefully for a while) Hopefully you all like this chapter! Thank you for still sticking with me! Oh and thank you to StrayCat1 for pointing out my mistake in that one chapter! I greatly appreciate it! I did fix it though! Thank you again! =D**


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